Category Archives: karate

How I used Martial Arts against an Intruder on Christmas!

Yes, the martial arts killed Christmas. In fact, it was me, with my martial arts that killed Christmas. Killed it dead. Dead a poisoned rat in a trap dropped in a well. Here’s how it happened.

Click on the cover!

Back in 1974, I had just gotten my Black Belt. I was in phenomenal shape, the martial arts had turned on all sorts of abilities for me. I had a sixth sense open up, I could feel when people were going to do things, I could sense things around me, I moved through the world a warrior unbound.

My wife and I lived in a small house in Redwood City. There was an upstairs and a downstairs. It was so compact that the bathroom was under the stairs.

One night I awoke, felt the need to relieve myself. Half asleep, stumbling through the dark, I descended the stairs. I turned through the living room and headed for the bathroom.

Suddenly, a shape rushed at me! It was dark, but I could feel the motion. I spun into a classical move, and chopped with perfect form. The intruder crashed against the wall. One chop, and he was down and out! Now that’s good martial arts, I thought, and I turned on the light.

The Christmas tree lay a ruin. Every ornament was flung from the tree, little bulbs lay in shards, scattered across the floor

The lights, needless to say, no longer worked.

The cheery, little angel that had topped the tree was smacked against the wall and lay in ruins.

Half asleep, I had snagged the Christmas tree cord with a foot, and pulled the ‘intruder’ down upon myself.

Still, I had defended myself rather adequately, don’t you think?

I remember a time in an Aikido class, when the instructor had talked about using the sixth sense to protect oneself, but not being so violent, that Grandma had to worry, when she walked up behind you and tapped you on the shoulder.

Well, I understood that one. And I understood that I had a lot more to go, a lot more to learn, past black belt.

Heck, getting a black belt is just the start. That’s like graduating from high school, and there’s all sorts of college ahead of you, advanced studies in rare fields.

A lot to look forward to.

Unfortunately, there are those that quit the martial arts after getting their black belt. They have nothing to look forward to. Or at least didn’t, until the Matrixing courses came out.

Now, even if it’s been a few years since you worked out, you can jump back in the game, study those rare fields of knowledge. Learn Shaolin, figure out this ‘chi’ business, study weapons.

And you can do it logically, without all the mystical bullstuff that infects most martial arts.

Well, up to you. It is Christmas (HanaKwanMass) however, so you might think about getting yourself a nice present. A present like a whole martial art. How about Shaolin?

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/6-shaolin-butterfly/

Okley donkley, here’s something you should know…

Got more videos out on the MonkeyBoxingNow site. Check out the blog there, and sign up for the newsletter if you want the blog to come to you.

Intuition in the Martial Arts and a BIG win!

Got lots of things today, including a PHEEEnominal win from a Monkey Boxer. So… LET’S START!

First, it is the month of HanaKwanMass, and I should explain that to all you newbies who only joined the newsletter in the last year.

HanaKwanMass stands for… Hanukkah, Kwanza, and Christmas. Political correctness is for idiots, if somebody says Happy Kwanza to me, I say Happy Kwanza back. Skin color, religion, those are just distinctions for the ignorant. We all bleed red, and I don’t care what you call your viewpoint of the Supreme Power. So HanaKwanMass, I reach everybody, or offend everybody, and the heck with political correctness.

Second, the path of the martial arts involves making a person intuitive. So they don’t have to think, but do the right thing, without thinking about it, automatically. What matrixing does is do this FAST.

Look, there’s a lot to matrixing, and that’s because the martial arts have had a lot done to them. People, well meaning instructors, have obscured the real arts. They have hidden the path to intuition. Matrixing merely cleans up the field, derails mysticism with scientific observation, and heaping helpings of logic.

One of the first things I ever wrote about Matrixing…

If you want to teach somebody how to count, you wouldn’t say… 4, 7, green, 5 elephant…and so on. You would say… 1…2…3…4… and so on. The martial arts, because of politics, religion, nationalism, personal interest, and so on, are a mixed mesh up of… 4, 7, green, 5 elephant…and so on.

Matrixing returns the art to the logic of 1…2…3…4…and so on.

But there’s so much more, there is the intense scrutiny of basics, the rearranging of form, the alignment of techniques, and the presentation of a scientific philosophy so that people no longer get lost in the mysticism.

Unfortunately, people who aren’t too smart, can’t let go of the mysticism, and they resist matrixing.

Invariably, they haven’t studied it, but they sure know how to badmouth it.

So, third, here’s a win. It is a spectacular win, comes from a Monkey Boxing student. And I should say something about this.

Matrixing presents the logic, can be applied to any art.

Monkey Boxing is me teaching. I use matrixing, and all the tools at my disposal. You might see a drill I learned in the Kang Duk Won 45 years ago. You might see a translation from Wing Chun to Aikido, that I worked on 40 years ago. You might see something I made up yesterday to help one student make the leap from the hard grind of repetition to the joy of intuition.

It goes this way and that, an intuition of teaching, and I have no way of judging whether my instincts are correct. So to get a win like this really makes my day. Here’s the win…

Al,

I don’t have room here to say this big enough or joyfully enough— but if I did, I’d put a HUGE big “Whoopee!!”

I’ve finally been through the first few videos of the Monkey Boxing course. I have a habit of watching all I have- this from a learning technique I picked up years ago called “super-learning” and it basically says to learn anything- first skim over the material, which creates a ‘sense of familiarity’ to the information. I’ve done that. I have been left on CLOUD 9.

I was injured in an accident in 99– got mashed between two HUGE trucks– my 16 ton tow truck and a 9,000 pound Ford Excursion SUV…. and after that, I took almost 3 years to learn just to walk semi-normally again and I still limp. Lately, I’ve had more “arthritic” effects and stiffening as a result. The other effect it had on me is, for some reason, and no doctors have been able to tell me why- I’ve lost a LOT of memories of my life. I can put all my past memories probably in a two or three hour video if I could transfer my thoughts to video. My 5th degree black belt in Kenpo- for instance– is GONE. I know it did it, and every so often get a little “glimpse” of things but doesn’t stay with me. My bodyguard years- I have a few memories of that- and even the last few years since the accident, most of the past part is just not there.

I’m telling you this because I wanted to get back into a martial art- more for self- defense than the “art” part. I’m 60, not in good health at all, but want to learn to take care of myself.

What I found, just watching the first 14 videos (for some reason I missed 13- which I’ll get when my internet is back on- my data limit ran out).. was that it IS exactly as you said– SO INTUITIVE!! It’s a truly NATURAL grouping of actions and motions- and I easily flow with it. I’m So excited, I could scream– probably will a bit later!! 🙂

I have begun, and will have to work consistently and SLOWLY, and let it build on its own. I can see myself doing it all- very slowly- and with dynamic tension to get the motions correct and build the muscles for that particular move as the same time- then over time the drills will build the motion back into my muscle memory (which hopefully will stay with me since they ARE natural- logical motions). I don’t know how long it will take me to learn and get really good at this- and don’t really CARE– because I KNOW it works- my “spirit” says it WORKS… and my mind KNOWS it works- because it is NATURAL/LOGICAL and REAL. I’ve already put my Kenpo books, cds., and other stuff I was looking at BACK in storage– and won’t be needing them. I’m not interested in spending another 5+ years just learning something that is NOT right for me anyway. And I love that just doing the Forms is the only realy “workout” I need. I DO a workout- have begun recently- called 7 miracle tiger moves.. which is dynamic tension in motion.. and LOVE them- they are very effective and are working. I can just AD this system to my routine and learn Monkey boxing while “working out” at the same time!! I LOVE this.

You can’t possibly KNOW just how happy this has made me. I have no one to work out with–and the forms will take care of that. Later, once I’m settled where ever I go- I want to get a dummy and stuff to work out on. I’ll probably teach it to someone close by once I get settled too.

I DO have a lousy internet right now, though– it’s wirless through Net Zero– which is a good service– but the “hotspot” I got from them is crappy. It’s a pad that I use for hotspot- and most of the time it kicks out right in the middle of whatever I”m doing- and I have to shut everything down and start over… and the signal strength is weak- so it doesn’t pick up well at all when it’s cloudy. I’m ordering a better “hotspot” later- like Jan. (my check this time is already spent on my truck).. Until then- I’m hoping all the videos you post are ARCHIVED– because I will miss from now to about the 5th… That is why I want to DOWNLOAD them all to my hard drive– because I use up “data” limit time watching them directly and can’t do them over and over like here at home.

I thought I would have loads of questions– but don’t- because it IS so “intuitive” and natural (or maybe the kenpo and tai chi is still in there helping with that somewhere- just unconsciously).. and I just LOVE this.. I was seriously looking at JKD online, and Wing chun online– etc.– but not now– I’m Doing MONKEYBOXING totally!! Forget all that other long time stuff!! 🙂

Anyway- hope this wasn’t too long- but just wanted you to know- I have FOUND my “niche” in this!!! THANK YOU.

David C

pS– There’s NO WAY I can possibly do the Monkey in a Box for a bit– I have trouble getting up and down out of a regular chair lately… but I’m working on it.. and I’ve always had this “feeling” in me that there was “an answer” or a “secret” to ALL martial arts– and this is it!!

David, thank you very much for the win. Thank you for allowing me to share this, I know it will inspire people.

And, for all you guys and gals.

David’s points are very simple…

anybody can learn it, it is intuitive, it can be learned fast… or slow. Depends on what you need and want.

And, I don’t wish to replace anybody’s arts, but that sometimes happens. I actually prefer that you take my material and revitalize your own art of choice.

Why would I recommend those? Because those three forms focus on grounding, and dedicated hand motion. All three forms teach one how to move in any direction, and yet keep your ground, and use that ground in your hand techniques. There is a tremendous swirl of energy up the body in those three forms. And, the energy is easily manifest in the hands, and the hands, almost perfectly fit the ‘slap-grab’ concepts which are outlined in Binary Matrixing.

This is not to say the forms of classical Karate aren’t good, they are, but they are ten, and the request was for three.

And, this doesn’t mean Shaolin isn’t good, but Shaolin spreads out over a number of concepts.

And, why not Matrixing? There are three forms in Matrixing? Because the purpose of matrixing is to put logic in the martial arts. What good is all that knowledge if you can’t apply it to a variety of martial arts, to more than three forms?

So I was sort of caught, hoist with my own petard, I believe it is called. I wanted to say matrixing more than anything, but if you only had three forms, then those are the three. They give more internal energy, contain more face to face, hand to hand combat.

And, I can’t resist, I would recommend the iron horse (kima shodan/tekki 1) as a fourth form. Just because it causes oodles and oodles of pure energy.

Anyway, that all said, the reason the question was so good, so appropriate, was because when I write a book I always think it is the best. You have to, or why write? So I think a book is the best, but it may or may not be, I have to wait to see what people say.

And the idea that one could study only three forms, aligned with my purpose in the Tiger/Butterfly book. My purpose, as always, is to put together a better martial arts system. Each time I sit down to write, I am thinking, how can I make this better, how can I formulate what I’ve done, into better and better art.

How can I give people the purest information to cause them the quickest progress, and the most profound experience in the martial arts.

So if the question had been, what seven forms, then I would have rejoiced mightily.

But… three forms. Zowie. What a question. You guys feel free to consider your choices. Put them in the comments for this newsletter at monstermartialarts.com.

Hey, again, thanks for purchasing the Tiger and Butterfly book (amazon)

Tiger and Butterfly Martial Arts Book

The new Martial Arts book is called ‘Tiger and Butterfly,’ and it’s pretty darned good.

click on the cover!

If you look at the title, and you have done any matrixing, then you can see that I have used portions of the Matrix Karate course, and portions of the Shaolin Butterfly.

This was interesting, because I didn’t want to fall into the trap of having systems disagree. I wanted the concepts to build on each other, not work against each other.

In a way, there is a certain similarity between Tiger and Butterfly and the MCMAP books I wrote.

The similarity is in the arrangement of material. This had to be, because when you make a system, certain things have to be done, certain rules have to be followed, certain principles have to be included, and all the way up the belt levels.

One of the reasons I wrote this book is because I visited a few schools, and I saw how the modern schools have let forms and techniques fall by the way. They work on freestyle, on fighting. The students get better, but they can’t do certain things. For instance, they don’t understand how to take a punch. And, they have limited knowledge concerning what happens when you complete the circle (cycle) of a technique.

There are no degrees. Each belt is designed to be done in about three months. Brown belt might take longer, but the material on the brown level is pretty advanced.

When done, the student will have those liquid kicks, those floating kicks that look so light, but knock down a elephant. They should be able to take any kind of a punch. They will be able to freestyle with authority, and make a grab art out of any technique. They will have knowledge. Real knowledge. Not just the fast reflexes of freestyle, but a complete body knowledge, how the body is constructed, how to tweak it for more energy, how to construct it for total effectiveness.

I want you to think about something. When you study matrixing, there are several courses, and I recommend that you do them all, that you get the complete picture, from striking to locking to guiding to manipulating to predicting to taking down… and more.

But, I can’t reach everybody, and some people don’t understand just how big the martial arts are, and that you have to understand them as a science. They are locked in ‘hit and punch,’ ‘ground and pound,’ and don’t see or understand the bigger picture.

This book is for those people. Hopefully it will get them excited for the big picture. But even if it doesn’t, it will afford a massive education, and do a lot towards bringing these people who are studying arts that have degraded over time into the real art. They will appreciate it as science.

And, even if they don’t, if they do the book, not just read it and say… ‘oh, I knew that,’ or… ‘we have that in our system,’ but actually do the book, all the drills and techniques, all the forms and fighting drills, then they will be doing the true art. Whether they were stupid and didn’t even understand what I am talking about, if they do the drills and exercises, they will end up doing the true art.

For instance, at a certain point, a certain belt, I teach a type of kick. It’s a floating kick, then you turn the hips over and slam the energy down into the ground as you strike. The point is… you can’t do that kick unless you use the tan tien in a certain way. You simply can’t. So they will practice it, get it, and stumble over the concept, whether they understand what is happening or not, and they will end up with classical power in a certain mode. And the whole system is constructed so that one mode leads to the next.

Okay, spoken enough. Simply go to Amazon and enter ‘Tiger and Butterfly,’ or ‘Tiger and Butterfly martial arts’ or ‘Tiger and Butterfly Al Case,’ or something like that, and watch it pop up.

Remember it is unique, matrixing brought one more step forward, and it is REALLY potent! It is a COMPLETE martial arts system.

The Martial Arts, and Evolution…

Speaking of matrixing, the martial arts, and evolution… I came across an interesting thought the other day I was reading some old yogic scrolls, and the claim was made that an hour of yoga caused a thousand years of evolution in the person doing the yoga.

Interesting claim.

The most important Martial Arts book ever written.

And, it’s not right, though it does act like it is right.

After all, when you evolve, you are not growing, you are reclaiming yourself. So it’s true, but…not really. Which brings us to Matrixing.

When you study a martial art that has been matrixed, the art is logical, and therefore the you accept it. you like things to make sense, to be logical.

when you matrix a martial art you accept this logical method of looking at and handling the world at a much faster rate.

The difference between studying a martial art, and matrixing it (making it logical through your own efforts) is the difference between driving a car and building a car. The fellow who builds the car will understand that car far better than the fellow who simply drives it.

Mind you, in the end, you get to where you are going. But the fellow who makes his own vehicle will, in the end, get there faster.

Now, that said, there are several things that will happen, as you matrix, that will occur. I don’t think I have ever laid out these results, described this path, so here goes…

First, you will tend to look at the world in a logical manner. You will become better at solving problems. You will become a better worker and boss. You will become an artist.

Click here to get the whole story on Matrixing the Martial Arts

Everybody sort of knows this, most martial artists experience this, so let me take you where most people don’t know.

Second, you must put aside emotion. This is an interesting thing. People will put emotion on you, and you will feel the need to respond with emotion. But the Neutronic definition of emotion:

emotion is motion inside the head.

Thus, you must still the emotion, stop the motion inside your head, and not respond with emotion,

BTW, there is good emotion, love, happiness, etc. And there is bad emotion, hate, fear, sadness, etc.

So the specific emotion you must not respond to is the bad emotion. Good emotion okay. Bad emotion you must uncreate from even beginning.

Think about it, emotion is merely the automatic response of one who is overwhelmed. You must not become overwhelmed, you must view the world in logical terms, so that nothing can surprise you, nothing can overwhelm you.

Third, you must defeat the distraction of memories. You must not respond because any conditioning you may have received. This includes any familial conditioning, any educational conditioning, any conditioning of any kind. Instead, you must create yourself in the moment.

For instance, your father laughed at certain types of jokes before you, do you laugh at the same kind of jokes? Don’t you realize that he laughed at jokes in his moment? And that you have an entirely different moment? That will change the type of jokes you might laugh at.

For instance, school might train you to think like a physicist, and you will analyze the world as a physicist, when you should analyze it as a unique being, not trapped by an education.

(Mind, I am not saying you can’t be a physicist and be in the moment, too)

For instance, do you view the world through a religious viewpoint? It would be much better to study all religions, to understand all religions, than to choose one religion over all others.

Don’t become the only thing in the universe willing to kill over a belief system.

This is simple after you have evolved a few hours…

Fourth, you must separate yourself from other people, without losing your humanity. Simply, you must be immune to the attitudes of your fellow man, but you must love your fellow man all the same. This one is incredibly tough. No matter how far you evolve, there will always be some idiot telling you what to do, thinking he is smarter than you, and so on. Can you accept and even use this fellow? And put aside your certainty that he is an idiot? Interesting problem, eh?

Fifth, and this one is a toughie, don’t view the world as a fantasy. This is probably the toughest, for you become enlightened through the things I have previously mentioned, then you might think that, because you are so smart, the world should be as you say.

For instance, you make a battery powered car, to save the world from pollutants, and don’t ever consider that someday the battery will have to be disposed of, and that the battery might be worse than all the oil pollutants of a gas car.

Oddly, this is one of the most dangerous things you will ever to confront on your way to self-sufficiency as a spiritual being… on your way to your ultimate evolution… on the way to the ultimate truth of yourself.

Though people haven’t discovered the earlier truths, they don’t know how to look at the world logically, or control their emotion, or control their responses to people, they will still try to rule the world through their fantasy.

Have you ever met a fellow without an opinion? And yet I am asking you to be one. Toughest problem you will ever encounter.

Anyway, this is the truth of matrixing and where it leads to.

First, you learn to look at the world logically through the matrixing method. You put aside the distraction of memories, then you put aside emotion, other people’s thoughts, and even fantasy.

Then you find the truth of yourself, and you start manipulating the universe the way it should be manipulated.

The truly odd thing is that this path often starts with a simple motivation: the desire to defend yourself. The wish to become physically safe through simple exercises and drills.

Where this path leads, though, is sublime.

Now, the one caution: People think they can do this through any martial art. Yet nobody has ever succeeded.

Indeed, the people who think they have are merely manifesting their fantasy of the world. They are still mired in the muck, and don’t understand that they have no logic. They have only the fantasy of logic. They have only an opinion and no facts.

So it has to be a matrixed martial art. It can’t be a Chinese fire drill of a martial art, it has to be a logical (matrixed) martial art. Then it will work, and then you can experience something like… a thousand years of evolution through a simple hour of exercise.

Okay, Matrix Karate starts the matrixing process. Study the courses as you need to, until logic outweighs fantasy in your mind. Then you will be off and running.

But whatever you do… don’t settle for an opinion.

Here’s a link…

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/matrix-karate/

And if you’re not ready for Matrix Karate, then at least check out the ‘Binary Matrixing in the Martial Arts’ book, or the ‘How to Matrix the Martial Arts’ book. They are available on Amazon. (leave a good review!)

Here’s How You Teach Martial Arts to Youngsters

‘Karate is the best thing you can do for your child.’ Who said the above quote? The answer is at the bottom of this newsletter.

We didn’t have much of a kids class back when I was learning at the Kang Duk Won. There weren’t many schools back then, and there was no shortage of adult students. Now, of course, schools can only survive if they have children’s classes. But how the heck do you teach a child? Children have short attention spans, they tend to whine, and they don’t remember everything you say!

Which brings us to the solution.

First off, don’t try to teach classical forms, just keep working on the basics. Teach them basic kicking, basic rolling, and do lots of freestyle ‘games.’

Here’s a couple of things to illustrate what I mean.

I went into a school, a pretty good school, and noticed a healthy sized kid’s class. Interestingly, there was a riot of color when it came to belts. white, yellow, orange, purple, blue, green, red. All with stripes of… yellow, orange, purple, blue, green, red.

This school had an amazing amount of belts, and I asked the instructor about it. He equivocated, and when I watched a class, I suddenly realized what he was doing.

He was teaching nothing but basics. But there was a method here.

Kids can’t remember things, so he just kept emphasizing basics, and waiting for an individual child to reach the point where he could accept instruction. Until that point was reached, it was calisthenics, basics, and games.

Interestingly enough, though there wasn’t an emphasis on teaching classical forms and techniques, children who were wild and wooly began to calm down.

The exercise tired them out, and made them amenable to reason. The discipline of just doing the basics, made them more able to focus.

And when were they ready? When they stopped trying to interrupt the class, when they began to focus on what they were doing, when they became aware that there was more than a game going on.

Here’s something to think about: I have seen young children who were mature beyond their years. I have known adults who were nothing but children.

The key word is responsibility.

So you teach things like kicks and shoulder rolls, basic one step sparring games, breakfalls and punches, and you back everything up with don’t let them rest.

Don’t make them cry, don’t drive them like an adult, make everything fun and laughs, but don’t let up.

It is an interesting line you walk with this method.

When a child starts to look at you, to understand what you are saying, and especially when he is willing to help younger students, then he is ready for instruction.

It might take a month, it might take years, but you just have to watch and wait.

You have to keep them there with games and fun, until they can string a half dozen moves together, and remember them, until the light of awareness enters their eyes.

Here’s what you are actually fighting.

Parents that don’t feed their children properly, that send them off to school with cereal, if that.

Electronic games that consume children, and drive them to frenetic activity. Peers that squash children. Drugs that are handed out freely by adults who don’t understand what the real solution is.

Karate, or any martial art, can be part of the solution. In many cases, it is the only solution that is needed.

We live in a weird society, a place where values have been forgotten, where parents have never been parented themselves, and simply don’t have a clue, where teachers are guided by psychological interests, and the simple fact of raising a child has been forgotten and neglected.

As a martial arts instructor, you may be the first sane person a child has ever seen. You might be the only sane person a child has ever seen. Yet your small influence, being based in common sense and good values, may be the difference.

Hit Them Really, Really Hard!

The first time I ever actually hit someone I was shocked. I had trained for 20 years, and I actually had no idea what it was like to hit somebody for real. Then I had to, and it totally changed me.

The most important Martial Arts book ever written.

Here’s the deal: to understand what I am about to say you have to understand one thing: what is a punch?

People say it is how hard you hit somebody, they say all sorts of things, but I haven’t heard anybody tell me the one thing that I experienced on the day I actually had to hit somebody.

Go on, google it, see if you can find out the truth of what it is like to hit somebody. I’ll wait… . . . . . Okay, you’re back, here’s the truth of a punch. A punch depends on the transference of weight from one body to the next. It’s not how hard you hit. It’s not how fast, or anything else like that. It’s how much weight you deliver. Now, those other things can enter the equation. But, the truth is… how much weight can you put on the sucker’s body? Can you put so much weight the other guy’s body breaks? Can you control the weight so it is a push and not a punch? Are you stuck in push, instead of punch? Does air punching really work?

Interesting questions, especially once you have tried to do a real punch.

When I struck this fellow I felt weight go through my wrists. Because I was grounded he flew back, went over a bed and hit the wall. Thank God for grounding. Thank God I had practiced aligning my bones, because if I hadn’t I might have broken my wrist, I might have flown away from that guy from my own punch! I just didn’t understand.

BUT, that one punch, and I understood. So, try this special exercise. We used to do it back in the sixties, had no clue what it meant, and it wasn’t until I actually had to hit somebody that I understood what the drill was for.

Assume the push up position. Go from the hands to the fists. Just a little push, like you’re going to clap your hands, but then land on your fists. Palms, fists, palms, fists.

Don’t do too many at first. Build up a little. Do it from a knees down push up at first, if you have to.

What happens here is that you get the sudden shock of weight going through your fists and wrists, and that is what it is like to hit somebody. A sudden shock of weight in the wrists… and through the rest of the body. You ground, you root your stances, so that you are braced upon the earth, and he will fly away, and not you. You have a straight bone line in your wrists so you can absorb the weight.

The actual weight here is going to depend on who weighs the most. If he weighs more, you will fly back. But, even if you weigh less, if you ground, if you are braced upon planet earth, then he will fly away. Or, if you punch with speed and snap, the impact will ripple through his body (imagine slapping a pond of water with your hand) and cause great damage.

Here’s a matrix Karate Kick

Try that, adapt it to other parts of your practice, and let me know what happens.

And, got something else to talk about here… new book coming out. This one, the working title is ‘Tiger and Butterfly’ is a condensation, a blend, of Matrix Karate and the Shaolin Butterfly. The story behind it is interesting.

I walked into a martial arts school, asked the guy if I could help, and he said yes. The school is pretty good. Probably real good, but they were teaching martial arts without forms, specializing in freestyle. The freestyle was, depending on which class was taught, points, MMA, or Jujitsu. Quite interesting.

So I started helping, and eventually came up with an interesting idea: how to teach with fewer, smaller forms. I used the shorter Butterfly forms, and the Houses from Matrix Karate.

So far, it is REALLY working.

Mind you, I always advise the complete art, in this case the complete Matrix Karate, or the complete Shaolin Butterfly, but considering that the school was established, considering that I didn’t want to change things, just enhance them, you can understand what I was doing.

Anyway, the book should be out in the next week or so. Tiger and Butterfly.

It’s one of the most important books ever written. It describes what the martial actually are, how they are grown, and ties together all sorts of loose ends. It should definitely change the way people think about the martial arts.

Arthritis and a Martial Arts Punch!

“It’s not how hard you can hit, it’s how much weight you can deliver.” Al Case

I just received a great letter, a fellow name of Damian, said Yogata helped his arthritis, and he talked about how he sometimes had trouble with a fist because of arthritis.

Click on the cover!

I recommend Yogata, or any form of yoga, but I really want to talk about punches, which may impact on concepts about arthritis.

Arthritis is an interesting condition, doctors sometimes lump everything under the term arthritis, and there are a lot of causes behind arthritis. It’s all sort of generic, but generic with a bite.

So here’s the thing: injury leads to inflammation. The body is swelling. Sometimes the swelling is obvious, sometimes not, but the pain, or lack of usability, is real.

Many, many years ago I realized I wasn’t a breaking kind of guy. My instructor was, many people are, there is something seductive about Power, and power is often associated with breaking things.

But I figured out that it’s not how hard you hit, it’s how much weight you can transfer into the opponent. So I thought about it, and I realized something:

“you don’t have to tighten the fist.”

This is weird, we all tighten the fist, and it is important…for beginners.

Tightening the fist upon impact teaches focus, introduces one to concepts of power, but, at a certain point, you don’t need to tighten the fist. Here’s something to think about”

take a stick and poke it into a watermelon.

Did the stick get ‘tight?’ No. It just had to be aligned, and it required a certain amount of ‘quick’ weight. Although, when you think about it, you could puncture a watermelon with a stick using ‘slow’ weight.

So I started working on the idea of poking the bones of my arm/fist through an opponent’s body without tightening the fist.

Having the idea of puncturing the body in my mind.

It worked. No fanfare, no big deal, just relax, align the bones, feed a little energy into the structure to keep everything in line, relax and throw the body.

Worked like a charm.

And… I started holding thumbtacks in my fist and breaking things.

And… here is the kicker, the more I relaxed, the better I was able to thrust my thumbtack holding bones through an object.

There’s all sorts of things to think about here. My favorite is this:

if you threw 20 pounds at somebody it would hurt. (especially if that 20 pounds had 200 pounds of body behind it)

So when you tighten the arm, when you focus the fist, the tightening of the muscles actually holds the strike back.

That’s very zen, very tai chi, very true.

BUT, don’t stop practicing with a tight fist, you need a certain degree of focus to develop internal power. And hitting with just the bones, as I describe here, is not the only strike, and focusing the energy is VERY important.

In fact, I would say that it would be VERY difficult to learn how to strike with a relaxed fist if one doesn’t first gain an understanding of how to focus the energy with a tight fist.

Anyway, those are my thoughts, and I want to thank Damian for making me think, and sharing his win with me.

If you have arthritis, or ANY condition, there are ways to keep training. You just have to relax your thinking, look around, and find what works.

A Buddha Crane Matrixing Win!

Got a great win from Timothy G this week!

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Hello sir. It’s going well. Really well. Once I was able to connect Buddha crane with shuri ryu, the pieces began to fall into place all by themselves. The Buddha crane is the foundation of the kihon waza, ippons waza and came into their own flow drills(taezus naru waza). Making changes to the Kata isn’t as easy, but I have done the first few Kata. Even crazier, I found someone who has already blended shuri ryu with something. So, it came rather easy. Upon showing him how I’ve made changes opened his eyes and he’s asking me to give him pointers on how to make his karate be more ‘alive’. My shuri ryu master is dead and I never got the chance to get my black belt. So, I’ve gone thru these people I’ve run into and just from what I showed them they are willing to bring me to the black belt in shuri ryu. I’m not sure if that’s even important now, being that I matrixed the whole art, but I do hope to bring this understanding of shuri ryu to the table. Thus, starting a new (sub) ryu to the family. I couldn’t have done it without you. Osu

Thank you, Timothy, and well done!

And for everyone, please take note of a few things here.

The classical is not suffering, drills and exercises have more flow, which comes from increased understanding.

Making changes isn’t always easy. Aside from the fact of understanding the potentials of the martial arts enough so that you can make intelligent changes, you have to force yourself to change something that you have come to believe in.

Changing a belief system is often the hardest thing a man can do.

He shows his changes to another fellow engaged in changes, and he becomes the authority. Simply, he isn’t just changing, he has the knowledge, and this is something that people really respect and will adhere to.

Upon showing his changes to others he is recognized as expert, or having the ability to be expert. Osu to you, Timothy.

And, finally, here is a very interesting question: how important is the black belt at this point? People going through these changes, are gaining knowledge and that is senior to black belt.

Maybe one out of a thousand people that start karate get to black belt.

But how many have the knowledge to put together their own system or subsystem?

I encourage everybody to get to black belt, but I encourage knowledge more. Understanding is the most important thing you can ever get. Period.

Thanks, Timothy, your win is fantastic, and I hope people understand the trials and tribulations here, and the incredible passion you have for the arts.

Here’s how I analyze forms. I do this for every move. Check out video courses at MonsterMartialArts.com. This particular technique is from Temple Karate.

Now, I know Timothy has other courses and books on Matrixing, but he mentions the ‘Buddha Crane’ book. So let me explain something about that book.

That was the last book I wrote, I believe, before starting on Matrixing proper, before doing all the matrixing courses. As such, I was using matrixing concepts hard and fast, and I was developing a whole art out of what I knew. You can see me reworking techniques, reworking forms, trying to bring everything into a new slant, or, to be proper, a ‘de-slanting.’ A truth.

Here’s the funny thing, the book was actually just a ‘toss in,’ a bonus, on the ‘Create Your Own Art’ course. I wanted to show how I was creating an art, give an example to back up the theories I was pushing. The book is PDF on the Create Your Own Art Course.

You can, I believe, get it on Amazon, if you look around you can find it. You can also get it here…

That’s my publishing company, so I get a bigger royalty if you get it there.

That page I just gave you has a complete write up on what is in the book. And, the Createspace version is paperback, which most people prefer, because it’s easier to walk around with the book, than carrying a computer around while you practice.

And, a final word, the illustrations are most interesting, I wrote it on an old mac, and the software was something called Appleworks. What this means is that I drew the illustrations, hundreds of them, one line at a time. I drew figures, patterns, techniques, everything, with lines. Interestingly, I remember, at the time, not being frustrated by the slowness of it all, but being excited, because I felt like I was, by doing the illustrations in this slow and laborious way, learning something about the human form, writing what I was doing in a new way in my mind. By the time I was done I felt VERY changed inside.

So, that’s it.

Again, thanks Timothy, I hope people appreciate your win, and I hope they take the time to look at the book, and get their own wins, take a stab at understanding, and even changing, their own carefully crafted belief systems.

Why Fourth of July Celebrates the 2nd Amendment

Happy Fourth of July! When Americans declared freedom. When a country dedicated itself to liberty. We are unique, and it shows in our martial arts.

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The weapon of choice, back in 1776 was the Brown Bess. Brown Bess was a long, heavy smooth bore musket. It could fire one big ball, or a bunch of smaller balls, which made it into a sort of shotgun.

The name ‘Brown Bess’ was probably derived from the German

“brawn buss” or “braun buss” meaning “strong gun” or “brown gun”

A dictionary of vulgar terms explained Brown Bess thusly,

“Brown Bess: A soldier’s firelock. To hug Brown Bess; to carry a fire-lock, or serve as a private soldier.”

Some say the term was originated by Rudyard Kipling…

In the days of lace-ruffles, perukes, and brocade Brown Bess was a partner whom none could despise – An out-spoken, flinty-lipped, brazen-faced jade, With a habit of looking men straight in the eyes – At Blenheim and Ramillies, fops would confess They were pierced to the heart by the charms of Brown Bess. — Rudyard Kipling, “Brown Bess,” 1911

At any rate, Americans were required to own and keep a Brown Bess. Can one image? Americans being forced to have weapons? The shame of it!

Accuracy for the Brown Bess was about 100 yards, and then it was time for bayonet work.

Another weapon, used by snipers, was the Pennsylvania rifle. This was a grooved barrel rifle with accuracy up to 300 yards.

So the sniper had to steady a ten pound barrel that extended 48 inches, take a quick shot at a charging soldier, and then, should he miss, use a little cold steel. I’m not sure if the Pennsylvania Rifle had a bayonet, but no self respecting infantryman would go to war without a cutter.

Let’s talk about bayonets. They were triangular. They weren’t designed to cut, but to tear and rupture.

So, here is the scenario the founders of this country had to face.

A long line of British soldiers. British soldiers that had mastered the art of holding their position and rapid firing in rows, so that the colonists were decimated.

The rows would be marched to within 100 yards and hell’s afire.

Behind the rows of colonists the snipers used the Pennsylvania Rifle to pick off British officers, and thus create confusion in the ranks.

The colonists lined up and died, and those that were left, if they hadn’t run (and they often did), faced a manic charge of cold steel.

And, make no mistake about it, the British soldier of the time was the absolute best soldier in the world.

He could shoot accurately and en masse. He stood his ground. He charged with fire in his eyes.

Interestingly, until the Americans learned such discipline, they relied heavily on guerrilla warfare.

They were like apaches. They were like VC. They were like ninja, stealing in, opening fire, and running. They hid behind trees and did their damndest. Interesting times.

And, here is the pipper. The Revolutionary war was NOT popular. Many people didn’t want to fight the British. They were loyal to Britain, and they worked against those fool colonists who spouted this ‘liberty’ nonsense.

But we made it. We managed to outlast the best military in the world, and then go on to create our own best military. For over 200 years we have strived, have risen, have introduced the concept of liberty to the rest of the world.

So happy Fourth of July. It is a holiday that should be celebrated not just here, but around the world.

And remember, your ability to know and use violence, whether it be in the forms of weapons, or the choice of martial arts, that is what protects you and keeps you safe.

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Go to the Testimonials in the menu and do a search for your martial art!Hi Sensei Al! (On the Black Belt Course) Everything is working great! Thank you for the quick responses. I am enjoying the one on one videos. It may be cliche, but I do feel like I'm there. I also like the conversational style and the way you explain how you're teaching and why. You've got a new student for life. Thank you. ~ Daniel

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My students have started coming up to me after class telling me how much more they are enjoying it, and that the classes have stopped being so ridged and now flow in a kind of give and take between me and them. I have stopped being a task master and started having fun and letting them teach me as well.

I did the Master Instructor Course and it hit me. The Basics that are so concisely communicated in this course including the Matrix principle IS the solution. It doesn’t matter what “style” I call my art, because all styles follow these same principles. It doesn’t matter how hard I train or how many repetitions I do if I don’t train the right way. And I would never become a master if I didn’t know how it all fits together. Now I do! I can honestly say that I am now on the path that I have always sought as a martial artist. Thank you Al!

I conducted a Matrix Aikido training class for a Security Team at a local manufacturing plant. I tailored the training according to their Use Of Force policy. As you know they need control and takedown skills. I knew Matrix Aikido would be the answer. The training plan you shared was boss. The class went so smoothly. The participants learned very quickly. By the end of the class you could see techniques of Monkey Boxing coming through. They were also able to create their own techniques. There was one female officer in the class who asked to become my private student. She was throwing, locking and taking down guys twice her size. The Security Supervisor wants me to come back and with more participants! I'll keep you posted. ~ L M

Have found your books and dvds excellent. My background is mainly in medical qigong but I practice Sun Style Tai CHi, BaGua and HsingI as well as Eagle Claw, Snake Style Kung Fu and several Wudang weapon styles. This is the first time I have had the underlying principles so clearly explained and in a way that they are immediately workable and demonstratable. I have worked through the Master Instructors Course, Aikido and Butterfly Bagua and have started to breakdown the Sun Hsing I using your matrix method. I was even able to teach a 70 year old friend of mine with no martial arts background your instant aikido where she was able to do some very accomplished locks and throws after the first lesson